Plant Introduction

Structural stability and compositional reorganization of high-mountain grasslands under anthropogenic load in the Ukrainian Carpathians

Andriy Novikov, Viktor Nachychko — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:56:55 -0400

Anthropogenic pressure can alter plant communities without immediately causing changes in total species richness or broad vegetation structure. We assessed the response of high-mountain grasslands to anthropogenic load across five mountain regions of the Ukrainian Carpathians using 30 vegetation relevés, including 15 pairs of control and anthropogenically loaded plots. Vegetation responses to anthropogenic load were examined comprehensively across different structural levels. Total species richness and broad vegetation structure remained highly similar between control and loaded plots. In contrast, reaction to the anthropogenic load was associated with changes in the distribution of species richness among dominant plant families and functional groups, particularly after accounting for regional heterogeneity. Loaded plots showed higher grass richness and lower forb richness, while their overall functional-group cover remained largely unchanged. Differences between paired control and loaded plots were predominantly attributable to species turnover rather than nested species loss, although turnover did not exceed the high background beta diversity of the studied grasslands. The community ecological specialization (cover-weighted) was significantly higher in loaded plots, mainly reflecting reduced dominance of species-generalists, whereas species evenness remained unchanged. Overall, the results indicate that anthropogenic load is associated with compositional reorganization of high-mountain grasslands within a broadly persistent vegetation structure, rather than with straightforward species- and biodiversity-level loss. Species functional identity, within-group species richness structure, and abundance-weighted community properties may therefore provide more sensitive indicators of anthropogenic change than evaluation of species richness or vegetation cover alone.

Collections of tropical and subtropical plants as a strategic resource of Ukraine: from scientific and cultural heritage to fundamental research

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:53:01 -0400

The paper summarizes information on the establishment and development of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants, highlights the main results of its scientific research, and outlines prospects for further research and development. Information on the collection holdings of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants is presented, with particular emphasis on the major taxonomic groups of plants represented in the collections.

80 years of the Dendropark “Olexandria” within the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Conservation of rare plants in quasi-natural ecosystems of the Dendropark “Olexandria”

Lyudmila Kalashnikova — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:54:50 -0400

The results of the research on the conservation and restoration of the rare flora of the Dendropark “Olexandria” are presented across five research themes. In particular, the adaptive potential of introduced and native rare plants was assessed in the park’s quasi-natural ecosystems, which are coenotically associated with forest, meadow, meadow-steppe, riparian-aquatic, and aquatic plant communities. The prospects for establishing homeostatic introduced populations, clones, and ex situ biogroups of rare species have been demonstrated. According to the inventory, the rare plant component of the dendropark currently comprises 282 species and subspecies, both natural and cultivated. Of these, 92 species are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. In addition, 41 species are protected in the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv Region. 214 species are protected internationally; in particular, 8 species are listed in the appendices to the Bern Convention, and nine are protected under the CITES Convention. Almost 35 % (98 species) are preserved in the collection area “Rare Plants of the Flora of Ukraine”. In accordance with the concept of ex situ conservation of rare species, the reproductive potential and viability of native and introduced rare flora species were investigated. Monitoring was introduced for the area, abundance, and age structure of populations, clones, and biogroups of rare species in the forest, meadow, meadow-steppe, and riparian-aquatic ecosystems of the dendropark. The research provides substantial evidence that the most promising approach to ex situ conservation is the establishment of self-regenerating, stable populations, including introduced populations, which represent fragments of natural phytocoenoses and remain in continuous interaction with their components. Phenological observations identified a set of unfavorable climatic factors that limit the development of 79 introduced dendrosozophytes in the study region under ongoing climate change. Based on the findings, methodological recommendations were developed to optimize the conservation of rare plants in the Dendropark “Olexandria”.